Successful investor meetings come in all shapes and sizes.  But underpinning all of them are a few basic truths.

Check your own investor meeting against our five essential tests.

1. A successful investor meeting gets a clear story across

Your business is complicated and your market is ever changing.  You could probably spend hours just describing the impact of Brexit.  But for an outsider – an investor – complexity is a problem.  If an investment sounds complicated, it is off-putting.  We all know the old investor adage:  “only invest in businesses you understand”.

So, it’s your job to make your investment story easy.   We’ve seen great results for our clients just by simplifying investment stories.

For example after a recent Capital Markets Day we saw 7% added to the share price of a £1bn chemicals business.  This was after we stripped back their CMD messages and simplified the investor story.  The result was a series of analyst notes that all reinforced what the company wanted to say.

2. A successful investor meeting showcases the quality of your team

Investors may be used to seeing the CEO, CFO and Head of IR, but shouldn’t they also get to hear from a wider team?  When investors see the strength and depth of the management team, they feel more confident.

One way to make the whole team look particularly impressive is to create a consistent Red Thread Message and run it through all the presentations during an investor day.

And of course you should give those who don’t regularly speak to investors the training and coaching they need to give a great performance.

3. A successful investor meeting feels open and transparent

In a good investor meeting you share the challenges facing your business and have an honest discussion about the industry.  In this way, the investor sees a business that understands its weaknesses as well as its strengths.

That helps build confidence and credibility.

It can sometimes feel counter-intuitive to be completely honest and open, but you’ll find that investors will respond well to someone who shows they understand the weaknesses in their business as well as its strong points.

4. A successful investor meeting builds confidence

Confidence is built slowly and lost quickly.  The efforts you make towards building confidence will help you through tougher times.

For example, work on the important things, like never over-promising; listening to investors and showing that you want more from them then just their money.

The relationship between an investor and investee is complex and you want to continually build confidence in you and your business.

5. A successful investor meeting answers tough questions

Some investors love to ask tough questions.  And they may be asking those questions for different reasons.

For example, they may want to see how you react to an unanswerable question. They may want to show off to their colleagues. They may want to test how you behave under pressure.  Or they may just want a simple answer.

And, if you learn the techniques for answering questions well, you will not be put off, even by the most aggressive, unanswerable question.

If you want help handling tough questions, get in touch.

What You Can Do Next

If you want your next investor meeting to be a real success, speak to us.

We can help you create powerful persuasive messages, design great materials and coach /rehearse your team so your audience goes away with exactly the impression you want.

Call our Client Services Director Louise Angus today on 020 7018 0922 or email her now to discuss how we can help you. 

About Benjamin Ball Associates

Benjamin Ball Associates helps clients to communicate better with investors.

Over the years the BBA team has coached thousands of senior executives globally to present themselves powerfully to investors. We have developed a robust toolbox of techniques that we use to help our clients become clear, confident communicators.

We’ll help you create a powerful first impression that hooks and engages your audience immediately and we’ll coach you to deliver clearly, confidently and with impact.

Speak to Louise on +44 20 7018 0922 or email louise@nullbenjaminball.com to find out more and discuss your upcoming investor presentation.

 

Contact us to improve your investor presentations

Photo by Ben Rosett on Unsplash